Strip back EU job laws, urges IoD

Business leaders have called on the Government to retrospectively “de-gold
plate” European employment law as part of efforts to cut red tape, by
removing all the extra rules that have been unnecessarily added to EU
legislation in recent years.

The Institute of Directors (IoD), along with the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), have urged the Department for Business (BIS) to review cases of “over-regulation” involving EU law.

The Institute of Directors (IoD) and British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) have urged the Department for Business (BIS) to review cases of “over-regulation” involving EU law, where Whitehall has taken the draft legislation from Brussels and needlessly added extra rules that weren’t originally included.

But the IoD wants to see the BIS go further, by reviewing beefed-up laws that are already in place.

Alexander Ehmann, head of parliamentary affairs at the business group, said: “We urge the Government to take a look at when they’ve gone beyond what’s required from Europe.

"There are a number of cases where they’ve imposed their own standards, which are ripe for review.

“If ministers are serious about taking a de-minimalist approach to regulation, they should renegotiate some of the rules.

"If this Government decided it wanted to downgrade some areas [of EU law], it could do that without having to talk to Brussels.”

The IoD is building up a list of examples where the Government has gone above and beyond what’s required from Europe and will present its findings to BIS in the coming weeks.

John Wastnage, policy adviser at the BCC, said: “There are countless EU directives that have been gold-plated, which would merit a review.

"The UK should apply EU directives without adding additional regulations – civil servants use it as an opportunity to add in extras they want to see on the statute book.”

In October, Mr Fallon said: “In future we have to avoid gold-plating. It is completely unnecessary and I think it’s a cultural thing of cautious civil servants writing in the directive for all the eventualities that we might have to cover.

"But we need to stick to the principles of what’s been agreed by Brussels and not add to it.”

A BIS spokesman said the Government’s “red tape challenge” is identifying and stripping out unnecessary requirements in existing regulation.

“The Government is cracking down on unnecessary burdens on business stemming from the EU,” he said